Privacy policy
Personal Data Protection Notice
The company Ments s. r. o., with its registered seat at Rybárska brána 8, 811 01 Bratislava – mestská časť Staré Mesto, Slovak Republic, Identification no. 55 681 727, registered in the Commercial Register of the Municipal Court Bratislava III, Section Sro, File no. 171663/B (Ments or we), consistently takes care of personal data protection.
In this notice, we would like to inform you how Ments processes your personal data and also about your rights in relation to the processing of your personal data in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR).
This notice is intended for (1) clients to whom we provide legal services, (2) our website visitors and people who contact us through the website, (3) our employees and job seekers, (4) subjects providing services or supplying goods to Ments, and (5) contact persons or other persons authorized to act on behalf of the above-mentioned entities.
When processing personal data, Ments is governed primarily by the GDPR, which also regulates your rights as a data subject, by the provisions of the Act No. 18/2018 Coll., on the Protection of Personal Data, as amended (the Personal Data Protection Act), which apply to us (especially Section 78), the Act no. 586/2003 Coll. Act on Advocacy, as amended (the Act on Advocacy) (especially Section 18), as well as other regulations. Ments also adheres to the Code of Conduct adopted by the Slovak Bar Association (SAK), which explains the processing of personal data by lawyers in more detail. You can get acquainted with the SAK Code of Conduct at https://www.sak.sk/web/sk/cms/document/224.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
How can you contact Ments in relation to the processing of your personal data?
You can contact Ments:
- at the correspondence address:
Ments s. r. o.
Rybárska brána 8
811 01 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
- by e-mail at: info@ments.sk
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
For what purposes and on what legal basis does Ments process personal data?
Purpose of processing |
Legal basis of processing |
Occupation (provision of legal services) |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 (c) GDPR. |
Provision of non-legal services (e.g. provision of services of an authorized person in connection with an entry in the register of public sector partners) |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 l(c) GDPR. |
Ensuring compliance with legal regulations and regulations of the Slovak Bar Association |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 (c) GDPR. |
Employment (including competition) |
Contract performance or execution of pre-contractual measures at the request of the data subject under Art. 6 par. 1 (b) GDPR. |
Keeping a database of applicants for employment or applicants for the provision of services |
The consent of the data subject under Art. 6 par. 1 (a) GDPR. |
Sending marketing communication |
The consent of the data subject under Art. 6 par. 1 (a) GDPR. |
Statistical purposes, archival purposes in the public interest and purposes of historical and scientific research |
Legal basis allowing the collection of personal data for the original purposes under the Art. 89 GDPR regime. |
Human resources and wages |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 (c) GDPR. |
Accounting and tax purposes |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 (c) GDPR. |
Monitoring |
Legitimate interest under Art. 6 par. 1 (f) GDPR. |
Conclusion and administration of contractual relations with service providers and suppliers of goods |
Contract performance under Art. 6. par. 1 (b) GDPR. |
Meeting obligations in the processing of personal data (i.e. exercising the rights of data subjects, keeping records of violations) |
Meeting the legal obligation under Art. 6 par. 1 (c) GDPR. |
Proving, asserting and defending the legal rights of a law firm |
Legitimate interest under Art. 6 par. 1 (f) GDPR. |
Presentation of the law firm (i.e. making photos and videos) |
The consent of the data subject under Art. 6 par. 1 (a) GDPR. |
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
What legitimate interests does Ments pursue?
Based on the legitimate interest, Ments monitors its premises with camera systems in order to protect its property and ensure the security of the law firm’s premises, equipment and software. Ments also relies on legitimate interests in legal or extrajudicial disputes or in proceedings with public authorities in which Ments does not represent its clients but asserts and proves its legal claims and in the processing of personal data of contact persons or other persons authorized to act on behalf of legal entities with which Ments cooperates. Based on the legitimate interest, Ments also sends marketing communications for which consent is not required under applicable law, in particular to Ments’ clients or other persons with whom Ments already has a relevant relationship.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
With whom does Ments share your personal information?
The personal data of our clients and other natural persons is made available by Ments only to the extent necessary and always while maintaining the confidentiality of the data recipient, e.g. our employees, persons entrusted with the performance of individual acts of legal services, representing or cooperating lawyers, our accounting consultants, professional advisers (e.g. marketing agency ) and professional service providers (e.g. IT company) , the Slovak Bar Association (e.g. in in the case of disciplinary proceedings) or by the software or support providers of our office, including employees of these persons.
Although Ments has a limited obligation to provide your personal data to public authorities for the sake of confidentiality, we are obliged to prevent the commission of a criminal offence and we also have an obligation to report information at the section of money laundering prevention and terrorist financing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
To which countries does Ments transfer personal data?
Ments only occasionally transmits cross-border transfers of your personal data to third countries outside the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein) / Cross-border transfer of your personal data to third countries outside the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) is carried out by Ments only occasionally. E-mail communication and electronic copies of all documentation related to our activities remain stored on servers located in the Slovak Republic or on servers located in the countries of the European Economic Area. In providing its services, Ments also uses global service providers such as Google, LLC., LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Microsoft Corporation and MailChimp c/o The Rocket Science Group, LLC, primarily for marketing purposes and the presentation of Ments. These providers are located in the USA, which is generally considered a third country that does not provide an adequate level of protection. The transfer of personal data to third countries, including the USA, is always carried out by Ments on the basis of the existing European Commission adequacy decision under Article 45 of the GDPR or on the basis of standard data protection clauses under Article 46 par. 2 GDPR.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
What automated individual decisions does Ments make?
Although it follows from the nature of advocacy that it may also have adverse legal effects on other natural persons (e.g., counterparty), there is no automated individual decision-making within the ordinary course of advocacy as stated in the Article 22 of the GDPR.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
How long does Ments keep your personal data?
We store personal data for as long as necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed. When storing personal data, we follow the recommended retention periods in accordance with the resolution of the Presidency of the Slovak Bar Association No. 29/11/2011, e.g.:
- the book of incoming mail and the book of sent mail after its completion shall be kept by the lawyer for a period of ten years from the date of receipt or dispatch of the last consignment entered in the book;
- the inventory list is archived by the lawyer for ten years from its writing;
- if the lawyer keeps the list of clients’ names and the client’s file protocol electronically, at the end of the calendar year he shall prepare a printed form for the calendar year and store it in the office without a time limit;
- the shredding period of the client’s file is 10 years and runs from the day when all conditions for storing the file in the archive are met.
Lawyers are subject to regulations that interpret the obligations of lawyers under the Advocacy Act, under which there are certain circumstances that extend our retention periods of personal data, or more precisely they prevent us from shredding some documents for understandable reasons. e.g.:
- the client file, which contains the original documents handed over to the client’s lawyer, cannot be shredded;
- it is not possible to shred client file protocols and client file names;
- it is not possible to shred the client file or its part, which the lawyer is obliged to hand over to the state archive;
- it is not possible to shred a client file if there is any proceedings before a court, state administration body, law enforcement authorities, the Slovak Bar Association, which are related to the content of the client file, or the subject of which was the act or omission of a lawyer in providing legal assistance in the client’s case.
When maintaining a database of job seekers or applicants for the provision of services, we store personal data for the period of granted consent, for students for 1 year, law clerks for 2 years and lawyers for 3 years or until the revocation of the granted consent.
In human resources and payroll management, Ments retains personal data for the period required by applicable; e.g. the employee’s personal file is kept for 50 years from the end of the employment relationship (until the employee reaches the age of 70), payslips for 50 years, payslips and other payroll for 10 years.
When sending marketing communications, we store personal data for a period of 5 years from the granting of consent or until its revocation.
The accounting documents are kept by Ments for 10 years following the year to which they relate.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
How does Ments collect personal data?
If you are a Ments client, we most often collect your personal data directly from you. In this case, the collection of your personal data is voluntary. Depending on the specific case, the non-disclosure of personal data by clients may affect our ability to provide quality legal advice or, in exceptional cases, our obligation to refuse to provide legal advice. We may also obtain personal information about our clients from publicly available sources, from public authorities or from other persons.
If you are not our client, we most often obtain your personal data from our clients or from other public and legal sources by requesting the public authorities, extracts from public registers, obtaining evidence in favour of the client, and so on. In such a case, we may collect personal data about you without informing and also against your will on the basis of our legal authorization and obligation to practice law in accordance with the Advocacy Act.
In the case of selection, employment, human resources and payroll management, Ments usually obtains personal data directly from you. In some cases, however, Ments may obtain personal data from other persons, e.g. through a recruitment agency, but also a contractual partner cooperating with Ments.
If Ments obtains personal data from a person other than the data subject, it will mainly be ordinary personal data such as name, surname, e-mail, job position, address, date of birth, telephone number, etc. Cases of processing special categories of personal data by the Ments law firm are listed in the Code of Conduct of the Slovak Bar Association.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
What rights do you have as a data subject?
If we process your personal data on the basis of your consent with the processing of personal data, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time by sending an e-mail to: info@ments.sk or by updating the online settings. Revocation of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of the processing resulting from the consent prior to its revocation.
Nevertheless, you have the right to object the processing of personal data at any time on the basis of a legitimate or public interest, as well as for the purposes of direct marketing, including profiling.
In addition to the above rights, you have the right to:
- request access to personal data concerning you;
- request the correction of incorrect personal data concerning you;
- to delete personal data;
- to limit the processing of personal data;
- the transfer of personal data in accordance with the terms of the GDPR;
- to submit a complaint to the competent supervisory authority, which is the Office for Personal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic, Hraničná 12, Bratislava, e-mail: dozor@pdp.gov.sk.
Some of the above rights may be limited as a result of Ments’ obligation to maintain confidentiality with reference to Article 15 par. 4 GDPR, Art. 4 GDPR and § 18 par. 8 of the Advocacy Act.
As a client, you have the right to consider access to your personal data as well as their correction. If we process personal data in the provision of legal services, you, as a client or as another natural person (e.g. a counterparty), do not have the right to object such processing under Article 22 of the GDPR. If the personal data concerns the client (regardless of whether the client is a legal entity or a natural person), other persons do not have the right to access the data or the right to transfer, due to our legal obligation to maintain confidentiality and with reference to Art. 15 par. 4 GDPR, Art. 20 par. 4 GDPR and § 18 par. 8 of the Advocacy Act: “A lawyer is not obliged to provide information on the processing of personal data, to allow access or transfer of personal data under a special regulation, if this could lead to a breach of the lawyer’s duty to maintain confidentiality under this Act.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Processing of Cookies
Like other companies operating websites, Ments also uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer or mobile device while browsing the website that improve the use of the website.
Individual cookies have different storage times on your device. Some cookies are deleted from your device after you close the browser window (session cookies), others remain stored on your device even after you finish browsing our website (permanent cookies).
More information about cookies can be found at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.
Our website uses cookies for operational purposes, necessary for the proper functioning of the website (functional and technical cookies). These cookies are temporary, do not contain any personal data and are deleted when you close your browser. You can prevent saving of these files to your device at any time by setting up your web browser.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notification Changes
The protection of personal data is not a one-time affair for Ments. The information that we are required to provide to you with respect to our processing of personal data, may change from time to time. For this reason, Ments reserves the right to modify and change this Notice to any extent at any time. In the event of a change to this Notice in a substantial manner, we will bring the change to your attention, e.g. by a general notice on this website or by a special notice by e-mail.